Happy Anniversary - 14 years and counting.

"Time has the illusion of speeding by or creeping along, but in reality we have the same 24 hours in every single day!"

Since 1997, I have spent the majority of my time in Missouri. That's 16 years of my 38 1/2 years of life...not even half my life. However, even through all the hardships, all the drama, and all the roller coasters... I have found home. I was not raised here, nor did I grow up living the kind of life I live now. As a young adult, I found a life that included some of the finer ways. Fancy restaurants, spur of the moment trips to Canada/New York, being treated like royalty. Yet, it wasn't where my heart was. I never really fit in, in my life in Illinois. I was either too "grown up" to behave like the child I was expected to be, or my personal identity didn't match what everyone else was doing so I was different. I loved the fancy life, but it wasn't me either. I wasn't good at being a trophy. The life here has had it's ups and downs, but here in Missouri I found my home.

As time has gone on, I look back and realize how so many different paths I could have taken that would have changed the course of my life. The many times I fought this life, and all it stood for. The very person that has taught me so much, made me so angry, put up with my independence, and helped me find my home. The person I am referring to is the person this blog is about, my husband. He took this independent, Illinois town kid, with zero knowledge of farm life and helped me transform my life into a life I am proud of. A life that began together 14 years ago June 26th. With all the trials, the ups and downs, the roller coaster of emotions and life dramas, the health issues, the birth of our 2 children, the purchase of our first home and farm, and it continues...the man who has made me mad, knows every single button to push, and the one who claims to love me through it all.

June 26th, 14 years ago, we stood in the little white country church that your Grandparents attended, your parents were married in, your uncle was married in, and we were to be married in. The family history with that town, that church and just within that side of your family is remarkable. We had a beautiful day for our wedding. All 4 sets of our parents were there, your brother and sisters, my sister and 1 brother, and some of my closest friends even came down. I was a nervous wreck! I was terrified of making that jump, but excited at the same time. Our reception was very simple, and we had a few couples that did country dancing with us. When we left the reception, we made the trip for our honeymoon. We didn't go far, just to Branson. We had a few days down there, and decided to come home to begin our lives. A year and 3 months later, we welcomed our oldest into our lives. Even with all the trials of being first time parents, we made it. We argued, we disagreed, and yet we made it. After several miscarriages, and 8 years, we welcomed our youngest into our family. Life finally seemed to settle into a routine. We finally got past all the crazy little arguments, we were able to talk about generally everything, and we have continued to grow as a couple and a family.

As we are approaching our anniversary, I have to say, I have come to depend on this man. I depend on his opinion, his knowledge, his strength, his charm, his humor, and his love. I depend on our morning conversations over coffee, his sweet text messages during the day, the little things he does and I'm certain he doesn't he know he does them. I depend his shoulder when I need to cry, I depend on him being the pillar of our family when something needs to be said. While all our decisions are made jointly, he is typically the final say....although occasionally I can change his opinion if I feel it needs changed.

There have been times in our marriage when it seems time has all but stopped, and other times that time has flown past. I know we all have the same 24 hours every single day, I am happy to spend as many as possible with our family and with my husband. I know we both have days when we really don't like each other, but we always love each other or we wouldn't have made it this many years. Through all the trials, all the drama, and everything else we've encountered...here we are. I know I am a few days early, but I have been so grateful to you, my dear...

So, I know others will read this, but to you my husband...Thank you for 14 years of patience, love, and understanding. Thank you for being my rock, my sounding board, my support and even my voice when I couldn't find it. Thank you for helping me find my home, and helping me to find this wonderful way of life that has helped me find fulfillment. Because of you, I was able to find the person within that makes me happy, and a person I am proud of. Because of you, I strive everyday to be a better person. I love you more than I could ever tell you or show you.
~S~

Weed Pulling Party!

Since Mother Nature has had a serious case of P.M.S., my gardens have gotten away from me! I really need to have a weed pulling party, but the problem with that is I don't want anyone in my gardens! Maybe I need to have a babysitting party instead! One where there are several adults to help keep up with kids while I work in the gardens! :-)

While the soil is still moist enough to easily pull weeds, I am constantly having to stop and check on kids, because they conveniently disappear from sight, more often than not! Then they get hot or bored and want to come in the house. Well, I love our house too much to let the little monsters be in it alone for any length of time! And since they can't seem to get along for any length of time, they get about 10 minutes between me checking on them! Needless to say, ALL my chores are done sporadically and it definitely takes longer to get it all done.

So, as plans go, I plan to get potatoes, and peas weeded and strawed today. I also need to get the peas staked, and the tomato trellis' built. I have gotten the go ahead to use the left over gutters to plant my herbs in, and hope to start that project today also.

Inside, my projects are unlimited! I can't seem to be able to get everything done around here. We have now come into hay season, so that is through in the mix as well. I don't do anything with the hay, myself, but hubby does and that either holds up supper or holds up the cleaning after supper. With 30 acres of hay this year, and 300 or so bales of straw to bale...it's going to be a long 30 days! Then come fall, we'll have more hay to cut. I am still trying to understand this part of the farm life. i know we need the hay, and understand the it's importance...just not the time it consumes. As fast as the yard grass dries out, why does it take 3 days to be able to rake and bale hay? Oh well, eventually I will be able to understand...it's still new to me.

We moved our outdoor dogs closer to the chicken pen in hopes of fending off the usual predators. It didn't work. We lost another chicken last night. Seriously, 3 dogs within 4 foot of the pen and something still got one! I guess the next step is building a roof on the pen and try that out. Growing grass and vegetables for the chickens, in the pen, is proving a massive failure! I thought if we planted deep enough they'd leave the seeds alone so they could sprout. Not the case! The dang chickens just dug deeper. So, the next step there is to build boxes around the pen so I can cover them to keep the chickens out until they grow. The idea of having a living chicken garden is fantastic, but I need to make it work for us. This is something else I will eventually get figured out.

As our crazy lives keep moving, we took on 2 weeks with an extra child at our house. My nephew has been wanting to spend time here for a couple years, and our schedule just didn't allow it. This year, I figured I would just add him to the mix so he could finally come down. Needless to say, it's been interesting throwing a 3rd child into the mix, and still try to get projects done. He's a great kid that is more than happy to help, but now we have the 3rd wheel syndrome on occasion. 2 kids play well, 3...not so much! But we are managing and slowly adjusting. Since I rarely go anywhere, he is having to adjust to not being busy all the time.

As I get started into my crazy day, I am trying to decide where to start. So many projects to do, both indoors and out. I guess I will make my list, and get excited as I start crossing projects off. Let the craziness begin!.......

~Sal~

Life, crazy? Nah! :-)

How crazy can life get? Well let me just tell you, my life seems to get nuttier by the day! So, this year has been a lot of trying something new. Actually a lot of new things. I planted 7 orchard trees, all of which still look dead. 3 grape vines that look good but seriously need to have a trellis. I have gotten 2 red maple trees planted (still have 10 in containers) and they look dead too. I have planted 6 forsythia trees(only 4 look alive), 6 burning bushes that aren't looking too bad but are small, 2 hydrangea trees that look great, 2 lilac trees that are on the small side,and 2 mimosa trees that show some life-but not much!

The gardens are mostly planted, but I did a lot of new ideas this year. Including: raising up the planting areas, companion planting, and 3-sisters planting. These new trials, so far are doing pretty good. The garden is pretty weedy since we've had so much rain and you sink walking through it. There's potatoes, peas, onions, radishes, corn, beans, squash,horticulture beans, kidney beans, carrots, lettuce, mescalin, beets, spinach, cabbage, hot peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, sunflowers, cucumbers, zucchini, gourds, pumpkins, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Everything is up and not looking too bad, but really need to stake off the peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. I have had to neglect my gardens because of the weather. It's frustrating when I love being out there so much!

I was lucky enough to catch some awesome fruit and vegetable sales locally and am anxious to cut into them. Apples, strawberries,broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, lemons and limes. I did take time yesterday to cut up some lemons and limes to freeze in ice cubes trays for fruit cubes. I plan to cut up some veggies today to have for snacks during the warmer weather. Planning to can up the apples into applesauce since they didn't have much flavor. The strawberries I need to hide from our little princess. The last package I bought, she had eaten in a single day....and the rest of us didn't eat any!

I always say I plan to get things done, simple because plans around here are known to change in the blink of an eye. Whether it's a rodeo to catch the little piglets that escape the pig pen, the horses getting spooked and running through the fence, a chicken falling in the horse water tank, some pre-teen drama, or the princesses toddler ways. I have been attempting to organize our home for 1 1/2 years and still have not succeed...but I'm getting closer. We live on "Plan B" all the time!

I am constantly struggling with being a mom, wife, my kids education source, learning the extended farm life(aside from gardens and chickens/horses)The cows were a new experience, the pigs have been a new experience, and the hay baling...holy cow! To say life is hectic, is an understatement! But somewhere in all the craziness, I remember how blessed I am to be able to learn this way of life, when I was not raised this way.

I am off to conquer more organizing since it looks like a storm is brewing again. Have a fantastic weekend!
~Sal~

It's FINALLY garden season!

I really wondered if we would ever get to the point when I could have all 3 of my gardens planted and start seeing the fruits of my efforts(actually the vegetables!). Here we are, June 12th, and we are finally getting warmer weather and less rain!

So, over the course of 6 weeks, I have gotten in the 3 gardens, planted trees and planted fruit. Needless to say, the month of May, was more mudding in everything, while June has been fairly beautiful! Although yesterday and today have been pretty warm, the rest of the month has been in the 70's & 80's. Everything around our little hayfield has greened up and looks beautiful. I got a hummingbird feed put up, and have a few that like to come visit. The male hummingbird is quite friendly, and has landed on my finger once. That was a new experience, but it was cool!

Back to the gardens... We have attempted some new gardening techniques this year. I researched most of the Winter and early Spring on companion planting and 3-sisters planting. While I had heard of these before, I didn't know much about them. So, after several months, I learned what I felt was enough to try it! So far, it's really fascinating how it's working. Here are the gardens, broke down:

Upper Garden:
Potatoes were planted, and as they grew, bush beans were interplanted. The peas are a stand alone crop this year. The radish and onions were planted in the same "bed". Corn was planted and allowed to grow to about 6" tall, then pole beans and squash were inter-planted(3-sisters style). There 4 - 25 ft. rows of kidney beans, 4-25 ft. rows of horticulture beans(a white bean similar to a pinto). There are 2 - 7ft rows of carrots, 2- 7 ft. rows of leaf lettuce, a 2 ft. diameter of mesculine lettuce, 15 ft. of beets, and 2 - 5 ft. rows of spinach. Then we have 2- 25 ft. rows of bush beans. Next comes 2 - 25 ft. rows of red and white cabbage. Moving down the garden: There are 2 - 25 ft. rows of tomatoes(33 plants), 1 - 25' row of green bell peppers, 12' of jalapeno peppers, 5' of white cabbage, 5' roma tomatoes(6 plants), 4' for celery, 10' of companion planted tomatoes(6 plants) and bell peppers(6 plants). I still have herbs to inter-plant...but it's been too windy today.

Lower Garden:
While half this garden is reserved for the kids, the other half is also companion planted. Corn and sunflowers are the majority of this garden, while there are 9' of cucumbers, and 6' of zucchini. There are also 8 bell pepper plants, birdhouse gourds, and ornamental gourds.

Vine Garden:
The bottom end of this garden is wild flowers. Then we have 10' of watermelon, 12 cantalope, and 18 pumpkin.

Orchard:
This is new for 2013. We planted a red apple, yellow apple, pear, peach, cherry, nectarine, fruit cocktail, and 3 different types of grapes.

New Bed:
Has 2 Rubel Blueberries, and 2 Patriot Blueberries, and 6 strawberry.

I have gotten 2 red maple planted and 2 mimosa planted, and 8 forsythia and 6 burning bush. I have 2 lilacs in, and 4 hydrangea trees also planted. I was able to get 3 yucca planted, but they haven't come up yet. I still have marigolds to get in, stevia to plant, and several red maple. I have some hummingbird vines to get in, but need a creative trellis. Still trying to get it designed.

It has been a lot of waiting this year to get in the gardens. I know that we will be later getting our veggies out, but I am happy to have the majority of everything in! All that is really left is little things that can be container planted if need be!


Feel free to watch our web site for photos as the garden grows!
~Sal~

My rant after calming down some!

For those who don't know, I have worked with Gold Canyon Candles for 3 years now. I break my neck to make sure my party hosts get their rewards and try to always give something extra as a thank you. I have offered free shipping on party orders (which comes out of my pocket), the extra thank you gift also comes out of my pocket and I have some of the best customers around. The thing that irritates me to no end, is when those party hosts get all those rewards for their parties and turn around and sell them at cost. To me this is wrong. Not only does it take more money out of my pocket, but those rewards are given, by the company, as a thank you and are free to the party host. While I will continue to work with this amazing company, I will be making some changes to the way I do business. It is wrong to speak untruths, and manipulate to get your way and make yourself look better.

As I have often said, I treat others the way they treat me. If you believe I am treating you badly, you better take a look at the way you treat me. I have reached a point in my life that I am ready to walk away/turn my back on those who do not treat me with respect or common courtesy. I am human, I make mistakes, but I will not be disrespected by ANYONE! I deserve respect, and if you can't give me that, then you don't have a place in my life.

To say I am upset this morning is an understatement! The very reason I started in my business was because of the same lies and B.S. that has now started someone else on a no win venture. Although I love this company, and the candles, I didn't want to take this on to begin with. Now, I love it with the exception of the stress caused by a couple people I no longer have to deal with. So, now I continue my venture, in new light and with less stress!